Chapter 302: Industrial Integration and Land Encirclement

The next day.

Hardy first came to inspect Wells Fargo Bank. Wells Fargo Bank's office was originally a foreign bank located in Central, Hong Kong Island, which later became the famous Hong Kong Financial Street.

President Sandy Weir reported to Hardy on Wells Fargo's business development in Hong Kong over the past year, which was generally stable.

Although there is also HSBC in Hong Kong, Hardy has different division of labor between the two companies. HSBC is responsible for all of Hong Kong's business, while Wells Fargo is the core engine of the Hardy Group.

In the future, the group's funds in Hong Kong will mainly go through the Wells Fargo line, so it will not be easy for others to understand Hardy's industrial core in Hong Kong.

After coming out of Wells Fargo Bank, Victor and Sandy Weir accompanied Hardy to HSBC Bank, which is also on Central Road, only a few hundred meters away from Wells Fargo Bank.

The convoy arrived at the Huifeng Gate.

A large group of high-level executives and managers and above were all queuing at the door. There were dozens of them. Knowing that it must be a big shot coming, the surrounding customers and curious people stopped to watch.

Hardy got out.

HSBC President Sanders immediately stepped forward.

People watching the excitement around thought that with such a grand ceremony to welcome a young man, this young man must have an extraordinary background.

At this time, someone whispered, "I've read in the newspaper that this person should be Mr. Hardy. He is only 28 years old this year, but he is already one of the richest tycoons in the United States."

"Oh, so this is Mr. Hardy. I heard from others that many people have been discussing the Hardy Group recently. I always thought that Mr. Hardy would be an old man, but I didn't expect him to be so young, only 28 years old."

After everyone exchanged greetings for a while, Hardy did not rush in, but stood at the bottom of the Huifeng Building and watched.

The current Huifeng Building is already the third generation. It is a 13-story building with auxiliary buildings on both sides.

There is a pair of bronze lions at the door.

This pair of bronze lions is very famous. It is said that there were two bronze lions at the headquarters of HSBC Bank in Shanghai. Later, during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, due to the shortage of materials, the two bronze lions were taken away and prepared to be returned to the furnace for copper smelting. This shows how much they needed them.

Later, the atomic bomb dropped and Japan surrendered. The American army found the pair of bronze lions in the warehouse and realized that they were rich, so they exchanged them back. In this way, the two guys returned to their posts.

There are rumors in later generations.

The bronze lion was relocated, and Hong Kong suffered.

It was moved once during the Japanese occupation, and Hong Kong suffered for three years. Later, the Hutchison Whampoa Building was rebuilt. In 1983, the old Hutchison Whampoa Building was demolished and the Bronze Lion was temporarily moved away. A stock market crash occurred in Hong Kong, and this saying came into being.

There is another theory.

It is said that Huifeng occupies the dragon's lair at the foot of Cheqi Mountain. This lair is called Tianma Drinking Water Lair. It is an excellent location for both wealth and power. However, it has one disadvantage: it is directly opposite Tsim Sha Tsui and has a sharp corner evil. The bronze lion is used to ward off evil.

Of course,

These are all superstitions.

Hadi really fucking believes this.

He was able to be reborn into this world, so it was impossible not to believe these things.

When choosing a site for the museum, a Feng Shui master said that the place was the dragon's lair of Lion Rock, so Hardy built the museum there without hesitation.

The others didn't know why the big boss was standing there looking at the door, but they didn't dare to say anything. After a while, Hardy said, "Remember, no matter how this place changes in the future, don't move these bronze lions."

There is no saying that "if the Bronze Lion moves, Hong Kong will suffer."

People were somewhat surprised by the boss's order, but they still quickly agreed.

If the boss says not to move it, then don't move it. Who would move such a heavy bronze lion for no reason?

Hardy walked forward, patted the two bronze lions and said, "Help me guard the door." Then he walked into the building with a smile.

In the conference room.

Hardy listened to the report from HSBC's management that HSBC's funds were still tight. Although Wells Fargo and Manhattan Bank supported them with 40 million US dollars, so many people withdrew money, especially Wells Fargo, which was operated by Hardy, and most of the money was taken away.

Although it is difficult, fortunately it does not involve survival issues.

President Sanders's future operations will mainly focus on tightening credit, reducing loans, recovering as much capital as possible, reducing the bad debt rate, and launching some activities to increase people's confidence in HSBC and regain deposits.

As for the details of the operation, Hardy did not intervene. After Sanders finished his report, Hardy said, "Two things. According to recent intelligence, more and more people from the mainland are coming to Hong Kong. These people often carry a large amount of cash or gold and silver. This is a good opportunity to attract deposits. HSBC and Wells Fargo must not slack off in this business."

"Second, the scale of Hong Kong's stock market is not large now. The reason is that there were three stock exchanges in the mainland before, namely Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing, and the financial center was in Shanghai. You all know the current situation. My idea is to build Hong Kong into the second financial center in the East."

"The current Hong Kong Stock Exchange is too small, with only about 30 companies listed. However, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange belongs to the Financial Secretary, so we cannot change it. My idea is to create a new stock exchange myself."

"It can be called the Far East Stock Exchange or the Kowloon Stock Exchange. It doesn't matter. The exchange's account opening bank is registered under the names of HSBC and Wells Fargo. It imitates the US stock market and sets up a financial index to show the rise and fall of the market."

The Hang Seng Index did not exist at that time.

"In the future, the companies of the Hardy Group can choose to be listed on this stock exchange. Other companies can also be listed here. The types of stocks include shipping and warehousing, hotels and catering, real estate and construction, financial investment, retail, toys, industry, etc., and gradually cultivate the market to make Hong Kong's financial sector more active."

A group of senior executives from HSBC and Wells Fargo kept taking notes in their notebooks.

To be honest, they were all a little shocked.

The boss has really big ambitions to establish a new stock exchange and turn Hong Kong into a financial center like Shanghai.

There are wars all over the mainland right now.

The future of Hong Kong remains uncertain.

Many people are worried, including those old foreign companies, and they are selling off their assets and preparing to flee Hong Kong at any time.

At this time,

How could they not be surprised when Mr. Hardy continued to invest and appeared to be very confident about the future of Hong Kong?

Having said this, Hardy moved on to another topic.

"Since you are all here, I will tell you about Hong Kong's industrial planning so that you can have a clear outline in your mind."

Everyone immediately sat up straight and looked at the boss.

"HSBC Bank will operate independently from now on and will be governed solely by the HSBC board of directors."

"Wells Fargo Hong Kong Branch is a branch of Wells Fargo Bank and is only under the jurisdiction of Wells Fargo Head Office."

"HD Security Hong Kong Branch is also the branch of HD Security Defense Company in Hong Kong and is not under the command of others."

"The Global Times and ABC TV are also directly under the control of their superiors."

"As for the remaining industries, they will form a Hardy Group Hong Kong branch, which will be headed by Victor. The industries include all enterprises in the Kowloon Tong Industrial Zone, the Penicillin Company, the auction company, the Hardy Real Estate Company, and new companies that will appear in the future."

"As long as the company is not directly under the jurisdiction of other branches of the group, it will be under the jurisdiction of the Hong Kong branch."

Many people thought.

The structure of this Hong Kong branch is actually no different from that of the group company.

After leaving HSBC, Victor also sat in the car. Hardy said to Victor, "Look back and see if there is a suitable building. Buy it and use it as the branch headquarters. Then you, as the branch president, won't have to squeeze into the auction company."

"You have a bunch of vice presidents and managers under you, as well as a dedicated financial and legal team. You need a suitable place to be based."

"Ye-jin will be based in Hong Kong more often in the future. She likes antiques, and she will still be in charge of the auction house. Once you find the headquarters, it will be handed over to Ye-jin," said Hardy.

"I understand, boss. I will find a suitable place as soon as possible." Victor said quickly.

It seems that this auction company has been the boss's toys for Miss Han from the very beginning. This is the case in the United States and in Hong Kong.

In fact, if it weren’t for this auction house, I would not have the opportunity to come to Hong Kong and would not have achieved my current success.

So deep down, he is very grateful to Han Ye-jin.

Back to the mid-level villa.

It was still afternoon, the sun was warm, Hardy and Victor were chatting in the backyard, and the servants brought coffee and snacks.

After taking a sip of coffee, Hardy said, "Victor, where do you think is a good place to build a racecourse in Hong Kong?"

Victor was slightly stunned.

The boss's mind is always so active, and he jumped back to the horse racing track.

“You want to build a racecourse in Hong Kong?”

Hardy smiled and said, "Have you noticed that the Hong Kong Jockey Club has gathered all the people in Hong Kong's upper class. The Jockey Club has become a power collection body. If our Hardy Group wants to gain more power, we must have a certain say in the Jockey Club."

"Establishing a racecourse is only the first step. The next step is to join the Jockey Club and become another racecourse of the Jockey Club. What I want is the right to accept members of the Jockey Club."

"There are very few Chinese members in the Jockey Club now. In the future, we can recruit a large number of Chinese members to become a new force. When our business develops, our overall strength will gradually surpass those old foreign companies."

Victor finally understood what Hardy meant by setting up the Jockey Club.

"Boss, we still have a large piece of land in Shatin. Do you think it's okay to build a horse farm there?" Victor asked.

Hardy was slightly stunned.

History always converges in the same direction in an amazing way.

Wasn’t Sha Tin Racecourse the second racecourse in Hong Kong in later generations? Now that piece of land has been acquired by Victor. When Hardy wants to build a racecourse, that place naturally becomes an object of consideration.

Hardy thought about it but shook his head.

“No, we’ll do it here in Kowloon. Find a piece of land that’s bigger than Happy Valley and build a new racecourse. We’ll talk about Sha Tin later,” said Hardy.

It is inconvenient to go to Shatin now. The journey is long and you need to cross the mountain. There is no tunnel now. Kowloon is not as crowded as it will be in later generations. Large tracts of land can be used. I have already talked to Grantham about buying land, so let's build it in Kowloon.

There is a large population here, so it will be much more convenient to start horse racing in the future. As for whether the Hong Kong government will agree by then, that remains to be seen.

It doesn't matter.

At worst, we can open a casino in Macau and adopt the telephone betting model. We can do horse racing in Hong Kong and horse betting in Macau, and place bets by telephone, thus perfectly bypassing regional boundaries.

Moreover, building a racecourse in Kowloon also serves the purpose of occupying land for horse racing. It now occupies a large area. When land becomes scarce and needs to be used, it is estimated that roads in other parts of Hong Kong will have been repaired and cars will have become popular. By then, we can consider moving to Sha Tin. The land vacated by the racecourse can be sold for hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars.

This is the case with many families in Hong Kong in later generations.

Originally there was a business, but it was not making much money, so in the end he simply sold the land for more than 10 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Still one of the top ten richest people in Hong Kong.